In a world that is rapidly changing - where we have so much at our fingertips - it’s still incredibly easy to stay in our own lane and never venture beyond what we currently know and do. The world is ours to explore yet sometimes some of us stay in our bubble. I 1000% can be that person, but just because I can be that person doesn’t mean I want to let it define me or become who I am all of the time. The first step is realizing it, right? Look, for whatever reason I can get on a podium in front of 60+ people to teach and motivate a class, but somewhere along the way in the last two years I’ve found hesitation in doing something outside of spin and yoga. I decided it was time to shake things up a bit so I asked my friend Jen for a little help. Look, if I was going to leave my cozy bubble, I needed a little hand holding, OK?

Before I explain what I did, let me paint you a little photo here. Jen is a BADASS. Like, four-stripe blue belt in Brazilian Jujitsu, vegan, incredibleeee cook, super positive, calming energy, shows up when you need her, most organized person I know, and an amazing friend to everyone - like, when I think about the kind of person I want to be I’m just naming qualities of Jen. We have talked about her coming to one of my classes and me coming to a class with her for months, but it just never happened. Finally, I just sent her a text and we set it all up. At this point I know NOTHING about MMA, the gym she goes to, where to start, what to bring, etc. In fact I only know two people who even practice Jujitsu - Jen and my friend Anna. I’ve always thought how cool it was, but from a distance, like a farrrr distance on Instagram, and here I was about to put myself out there and try it.

Thursday rolls around and I’ve now committed to taking an intro Jujitsu class at Creighton MMA & Fitness Academy. Was I excited? Yes. Was I nervous? ABSOLUTELY. I made such a big deal out of it in my head it was all I could think about the entire day. To some people trying a new workout class is totally normal! Why was I so freaked out? I don’t know, maybe because I was about to wrestle on the floor with someone else! Literally, I got so nervous on my way there that I knew if Jen wasn’t waiting on me I would totally bail. Once I got there the guys at the front walked me through everything and were SO nice. The gym is broken up into three sections - the lobby, an area for group fitness classes, and a huge mat area. I put my bag in the girls locker room, took off my shoes and walked out to the mat area where class would be. Although everyone else in class were beginners (except Jen because she asked to stay with me - thank God lol), I believe I was the only brand new person. We started off with a few warm ups going up and down the mat and moved straight into learning three moves. This class was LEGIT you guys. I literally learned how to flip someone off of me and a rear choke hold!!! We did more than that, but those were the two that really BLEW MY MIND. I was so excited and proud of myself after class, plus I learned something completely new to me! A few of us jumped into the Total Body Fitness class afterwards and then I hung out and watched Jen in her advanced class for a little bit. Right as I was about to leave, a girl that was in my intro class came up and introduced herself to me. I asked her how she found out about Creighton (thinking she also came with a friend) and she said, “Google.” Come to find out she comes by herself and has for a few classes now - so brave!

I literally came inspired by someone and I left inspired by someone. Never under estimated the impact you have on people! You never know how much you’re helping them by just being YOU!

Again, a huge thanks to Jen for just being herself! Her badassery on Instagram led me to want to try Jujitsu, her encouragement made me actually pick a time/day, her kindness in taking class with me made me less anxious, and her patience in helping me take all of these photos allowed me to share my story with others!

*Also, thank you for only accidentally hitting me in the face once. 🤣

P.S. here is an outtake when we couldn’t stop laughing (who knows why) when we were trying to re-create our sweet jujitsu moves, hehe.